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Topic: HELP!! Unable to boot computer (Read 5270 times)

I have been using Avast for awhile now and have never any any problems until today. While I was on the internet, i got a message stating I had some threat detected and recommended I run a boot scan on my computer. I went ahead and ran a full scan on my computer and it did not find anything. Before I left the house, I went ahead and scheduled a boot scan to be done on my computer right away after I restarted it. After being out for about 2 hours or so, I find my computer at a black screen and a blinking cursor on the top left hand side of my screen. I tried F8 to see if I can boot to safe mode but have been unsuccessful. I tried to select F10 and still the same thing, just a black screen with a blinking cursor. I have some family pictures that are on my hard drive which I do not want to lose and am unable to boot up to windows. Need help if anyone has any other suggestions. This all happened when trying to run a boot scan via Avast.

I got that one time a long time ago. Just a black screen with a blinking cursor at the top left. The only way I was able to get things working was to format the disk and reinstall Windows. Since then I have read that if you have an original Windows disk, you can repair that problem. I did not have a disk of the OS that was installed at that time since HP didn't give me one for XP Media Center Edition. It's the main reason why I installed XP Pro from a disk a friend gave me. You have to use the recovery console after booting up from the Windows disk and fix the MBR (master boot record). If you don't have a Windows disk, you may be out of luck.

Hopefully, someone else who has recovered from the problem without having to do a full reformat and install can help you more.

This is not going to help but................Always keep a system image handy stored on an external HDD. You can try booting up from a rescure cd such as Kaspersky's. Do you have a Windows CD? Do you have a recovery partition to boot into?

I have been using Avast for awhile now and have never any any problems until today. While I was on the Internet, i got a message stating I had some threat detected and recommended I run a boot scan on my computer. I went ahead and ran a full scan on my computer and it did not find anything. Before I left the house, I went ahead and scheduled a boot scan to be done on my computer right away after I restarted it. After being out for about 2 hours or so, I find my computer at a black screen and a blinking cursor on the top left hand side of my screen. I tried F8 to see if I can boot to safe mode but have been unsuccessful. I tried to select F10 and still the same thing, just a black screen with a blinking cursor. I have some family pictures that are on my hard drive which I do not want to lose and am unable to boot up to windows. Need help if anyone has any other suggestions. This all happened when trying to run a boot scan via Avast.

Oh man that sucks! I am so sorry! What a PITA!

It sounds like you got a vicious nasty rogue (fake) Anti-Virus alert as you browsed and searched On-Line. Remember everyone that if you get something like that, the best thing to do is DON'T CLICK on anything just browsing and searching. Bring up Windows Task Manager by doing Ctrl+Alt+Delete and within Task Manager, look for your browser in the Window, for example, if it is IE, it will say something like ie.exe. Click End Task, that will get you out.

Than open up Avast, Update the definitions, and schedule a Boot Time Scan.

NEVER CLICK ON ANYTHING FROM THE INTERNET WHEN YOU BROWSE THAT SAYS, "You have a virus. Immediate action is required to clean now!" You should only be working within the Anti-Virus program that you have on your computer and trust. Practically anything else will be a scam and a fraud.

Is there anything else this user can try to get this system up to at least somewhat of a usable state? Or is reinstalling Windows the only option?

Jack

PS. This is probably not going to help, but you could try booting into Safe Mode, and selecting "Restore Last Known Good Configuration." Maybe that might do it, although doubtful. If you get your desktop back, run a Full Boot Time Scan as soon as possible! (Remember to select "Move to Chest" for whatever it finds.) I would also recommend getting ASAP Malwarebytes from malwarebytes.org (note the .org extention) Update the program before you run it each time and run a full scan immediately.

I also don't know if he got a rogue. From what he said it sounds like maybe Avast! itself was suggesting a scan.

I have torrents to download recovery disc iso's for Vista 32-bit and W7 32 and 64 bit. I can also give a link to directly download any of those iso files that can then be burned to a CD and used to boot the machine into the appropriate recovery environment where you might be able to fix the problem.

While I was on the internet, i got a message stating I had some threat detected

What was the name of the threat? Was there an Avast pop-up? If so, it should have told you the name of the threat and given you options (and suggested action).

I am going to refer you to our Certified Malware expert, named Essexboy. He will also review your logs and give you further instructions, however he comes on the forum late UK time. He will respond to you in this thread, so remember to check this thread daily.

IMPORTANT: If you are on a home network, disconnect the affected machine from the network. Do not share a USB/flash drive with this affected machine. Do not use this machine unless Essexboy instructs you do to malware removal instructions.

In your next post, please give us some specs. on your machine, the version and product of Avast you are using, and security software you are using (firewall, other security software either on-demand or resident).

If you have created a Windows 7 Repair Disk you can use it to try and fix something like this.

It is a always a good idea in Windows 7 to create a System Repair Disk when you first get your W7 computer or upgrade to W7

System Repair Disc - Create

Quote

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

information InformationThis will show you how to create a Windows 7 system repair disc to use to boot to the system recovery options if you don't have a Windows installation disc, can't find your Windows installation disc, or can't access the recovery options provided by your computer manufacturer.

If you have created a Windows 7 Repair Disk you can use it to try and fix something like this.

It is a always a good idea in Windows 7 to create a System Repair Disk when you first get your W7 computer or upgrade to W7

System Repair Disc - Create

Quote

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

information InformationThis will show you how to create a Windows 7 system repair disc to use to boot to the system recovery options if you don't have a Windows installation disc, can't find your Windows installation disc, or can't access the recovery options provided by your computer manufacturer.

Wow...This was my 1st time posting to this forum and got great responses from alot of people genuinely willing to help out with my problem. Thank you very much for ALL your responses. Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I am on the road most of the week (every week) and haven't had the chance to check for any responses to my post. I do believe I still have the original Windows disk that came with my computer but will have to find it in my storage unit. This might be a good solution for me if it can restore my OS without deleting any of my documents or pictures that I would really like to retrieve. Like I mentioned before on my original post, my computer just boots to a black screen with a blinking cursor. I can't even get to the options to select safe mode. I don't know if I got a rogue threat or virus while on the internet. All I remember was an Avast window pop up at the lower right hand corner of my screen saying I needed to run a boot scan. After I was done on the internet, I ran a full scan disk (using avast) to check for any viruses and got nothing. Then I selected to run a boot scan from the Avast menu and proceeded to turn off my computer. After that, I got the black screen. I will try the Windows recovery disk 1st (GOD willing I find it) and let you all know if that worked. If not, I will try the other suggestions that everyone else has provided for me.

I also don't know if he got a rogue. From what he said it sounds like maybe Avast! itself was suggesting a scan.

I have torrents to download recovery disc iso's for Vista 32-bit and W7 32 and 64 bit. I can also give a link to directly download any of those iso files that can then be burned to a CD and used to boot the machine into the appropriate recovery environment where you might be able to fix the problem.

My computer is running Windows XP Home edition I believe so the torrents you have may not work for my computer but I will give it a shot if you can forward them to me. Thank you.

SUCCESS I think. After trying to locate my Windows Recovery disk for my HP computer I tried using a different recovery disk from another HP computer I used to have. It allowed my to get to a command prompt. First I tried repairing Windows XP (not reinstalling Windows which would have had me reformat my hard drive and then I would lose all of the documents and pictures I am trying to save). That didn't work. Then I tried to do an xcopy from hard drive to hard drive but MS-DOS was saying command not valid eventhough the xcopy.exe program was there. Next I tried fixing the Boot Record (fixbr). That didn't work either. Last thing I did (and I didn't notice it for some reason) is try fixing the Master Boot Record (used fixmbr) and it gave me a warning that I could lose all my info on the computer and basically screw it up at which point i would definitely need to reformat and reinstall Windows on it. I took a chance and tried it. It actually worked. he computer booted up and started the boot scan that AVAST was suppose to perform over a week ago. I went ahead and have AVAST program do its boot scan test. Thanks again for all the help everyone has given me. I hope this info will be useful for someone else that experiences the same problem.